Plant okayed for plastic lumber said to machine like wood for load bearing uses

ST. CHARLES, Minn. - Envirolastech, Inc. received approval for construction of a 10-employee processing facility in St. Charles, Minnesota, at which it will recycle city waste into composite non-wood boards that it says machines and behaves much like wood for some applications, including windows.

The Winona Post reports the City of St. Charles agreed to provide four acres of land to Envirolastech for its new plant, with investment estimated at $3.5 million.

“We have proven that our recycled composite material can be used to manufacture more than 30 different green products for use in commercial and residential building and landscaping,” said Paul Schmitt, founder and chief executive officer, Envirolastech, Inc. “We have customers, established manufacturers, ready to use our material to strengthen and improve their green building and landscape products as soon as we get into production.”

Envirolastech funded its latest phase of expansion in 2014 with a 60-day Crowdfunder campaign, raising $2.5 million in 60 days with minimum investments of $10,000.

The company produces plastic pellets and plastic building products from recycled waste. The pellet form composite is used in manufacturing its plastic lumber for construction and landscaping.

Envirolastech thermoplastic technology takes recycled plastics and glass, diverted from landfills, and fly ash from municipal solid waste incinerators and turns the materials into a plastic compound. Building applications include decking, siding and replacement windows.

Photo by Envirolastech at Facebook

Envirolastech says it has devoted 19 years to develop and refine its proprietary technology. The company has completed extensive laboratory and field testing. The American Society for Testing and Materials has also validated the technology, Envirolastech says. In 2012, Envirolastech won the Clean Tech Division in the 2012 Minnesota Cup competition, which honors entrepreneurial, innovative businesses.

The Polymer Solutions Independent Testing Lab has also recognized the company’s scientific breakthrough with a Top 25 World Plastic Innovation Award. Envirolastech says products manufactured with its recycled plastic composite compounds are durable, maintenance-free, impervious to water (so they do not crack during freeze-thaw cycles), and are 100 percent recyclable.

The company says it has developed more than 750 unique formulae with different combinations of recycled plastics so it can produce composite plastic pellets specifically formulated with structural and performance characteristics matched to its exact requirements. Envirolastech says it is the only recycled plastic composite that becomes stronger, rather than more brittle, in cold temperatures. Its composite has been tested and proven to have the strength required to replace wood lumber in load-bearing applications.

Envirolastch cites research on green building materials that supports its business plans. According to Navigant Research, the global market for green construction materials will grow from $116 billion in 2013 to greater than $254 billion in 2020. Research firm McGraw-Hill Construction reports that builders worldwide are shifting their construction methods toward green building and sustainable construction, with 51 percent of respondents to their survey indicating they expect more than 60 percent of their work to be green by 2015, as compared to 28 percent in 2013 and 13 percent in 2008. www.envirolastech.com.

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Bill's background includes more than 10 years in print manufacturing management, followed by more than 30 years in business reporting on industrial manufacturing in the forest products industries, including printing and packaging at American Printer (Features Editor) and Graphic Arts Monthly (Editor in Chief) magazines; and in secondary wood manufacturing for WoodworkingNetwork.com (Editorial Director).

In addition to his work as a journalist, Bill avidly supports efforts to expand and improve educational opportunities in the manufacturing sectors, including 10 years on the advisory board of the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation; six years with the U.S. WoodLinks educational organization; and currently with the Woodwork Career Alliance Education Committee, which supports educator scholarships, and develops high school and secondary school curricula in concert with efforts to certify manufacturing professionals skills standards. He is also on the Industry Advisory Board of the Greater West Town Training Partnership Woodworking Program, which has trained and place more than 950 adults in industrial in wood manufacturing careers through its award-winning grant-funded training program.

Bill volunteers for Foinse Research Station, a biological field station located at the heart of the Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark in North West Ireland. Foinse Research Station is focused on providing a platform for third level and university level research in forests, woodlands, blanket bogs, geology, archaeology, speleology and hydrology. Foisne is one of more than 1,200 biological field stations around the globe and one of more than 200 members of the Organization of Biological Field Stations.